The federal government in Ottawa is looking into new regulations that would force tobacco companies to apply labels not just on the packaging but also on the cigarette itself, CTV News is reporting.
The new labels would be variations of messaging in the spirit of ‘smoking causes cancer’.
Proponents of the policy hope that mandating a label on each individual cigarette would dissuade more Canadians from smoking.
There is recent but limited research showing that health warnings placed directly on a product, such as cigarettes, could be effective in making the product less appealing to users,’ a government document read.
The government also hopes that having labels on each cigarette would make it easier for authorities to track down illegally manufactured cigarettes.
Contraband tobacco is considered one of Canada’s most pressing problems.
Canadians who buy cigarettes legally pay between $70 and $110 for a carton of 200 cigarettes which is taxed by the government
But an illegally produced carton of the same number of cigarettes can be bought on the black market for as little as $20.
Every year, the government loses tens of millions of dollars in tax revenues due to illegally manufactured cigarettes.
Illicit tobacco is one of the major sources of funding for organized crime in Canada, according to law enforcement officials.
The Canadian government is considering new ways to spread the message warning against the hazards of smoking.
Another option could be mandating new warning labels each year in order to keep the message ‘fresh.’
Canadian tobacco products have had the same warnings on their packaging since 2012.
The government is also thinking of requiring labels for tobacco products that do not currently have them, including water pipe and heated tobacco products.
Each year, 45,000 Canadians die of smoking-related health defects, according to the government
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